It is known in the art that carbon black can be produced by axially introducing a hydrocarbon feedstream into a tubular reactor at one end and creating a vortex of hot combustion gases surrounding said feedstock so as to decompose the hydrocarbon and form a hydrocarbon-bearing smoke which can be recovered at the other end of the tubular reactor. This method has proven to be very successful. However, there is still a demand for carbon black having a further improved structure. The production of high structure furnace black is highly desirable because of the easy processing of rubber compositions containing the black. It is believed that the existence of a high temperature shield surrounding the hydrocarbon feed core is one of the most important conditions required for high structure black production.
Structure is a measure for the degree of internodular fusion or aggregate size. High structure means that there is a high number of carbon black nodules fused together to form one particle, whereas low structure means that there are only a few carbon black nodules fused together to form one particle.